Clean sheets and Mother's Day cards...
One part of my brain tells me there are about 1200 other things that I should be doing instead of this. I'm not telling you that I have 1200 other things to do to garner sympathy or kuddos or even validation, but simply as a reminder (as we all need once in a while)...to take time to do the things that fill you up...the things that connect you to your best and truest you. Today, I saw one of those things, with more clarity that I ever have before.
A few months ago I started reading, Grace Not Perfection. One of the exercises in the book was to identify things you love. Like really, LOVE. Truthfully, I struggled with the question. What things, activities, etc. really made me happy. Ok, yes aside from my husband and my kids, what really evokes genuine happiness in me? Big or small.
Crickets. How could that be? How could I not identify anything really meaningful to me. I know there are things, there are activities that I enjoy. But love? Love in a way that I could get lost in it all day? Hmm. I finally came up with something. Clean sheets. Yep. Clean sheets. I love laying down to sleep at night in clean sheets. Its probably more likely that I don't get around to washing our sheets often enough, which is what makes it so novel and lovely. But I'll just leave it at that. I knew there were things I had yet to identify. Yay to more self-discovery!
A glaringly obvious one came to me today. Something I've loved all along and have known it. But I didn't give the space it owned within me, enough recognition. It wasn't until I sat down today, to write out Mother's Day cards. I write them every year of course to my Mother and my Sister, and to other special women in my life. Its been on my to-do list for a couple weeks now, as a, "that'd be a great thing to remember & make time to do" item. As the coming Sunday has inched closer, this particular to-do has hung over me a little heavier each day. It was something I REALLY wanted to do. Not to just check it off my list, but because it is so "me". In my hurried Target run this morning I got the cards, this afternoon I started my drafts...and I got closer to something I LOVE.
It may not seem particularly significant or monumental. But I love to write, more specifically, I love to write words that become connections, that make the receivers feel known, and feel valued. This love of mine, may not seem to have a direct correlation to my business, but in many subtle ways I think it does. Curating words and ideas and strategies for people I work with is a pretty honored task. One that I don't take lightly. Which is partly (a big part) why my own writing and posts have been on the light side lately. My creative mental space is focused on the multiple streams of thought to advance their stories and brands. The ah-ha moment I had today with the Mother's Day cards though, reminded me of the importance of being on the look out of the things that move me and bring me joy. And when I find them, make time for them. Those joy-giving things make me who I am.
They may be obvious, they may be need to be uncovered. But when you find joy-giving moments in your life, enjoy them. Then make time for more of them. Even if that means doing laundry every other day so you can have fresh sheets ;-)